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Dwain Chambers with trainee social workers, from left, Vanessa, Marlene, Zanele and Namine |
It’s easy to blame social workers says track star
After Baby P, sprinter defends staff ‘under pressure to sort out society’s ills’
SPRINTER Dwain Chambers spoke out in support of social workers on Tuesday during a question-and-answer session in Archway with women who are planning to take up the profession.
On the subject of the Baby P controversy he said that like nurses – another occasionally maligned profession – social workers were overworked, understaffed and “under enormous pressures to sort out society’s ills”.
The former international sprinter-turned- youth worker added: “My mother Adlith has just retired as a nurse from Whittington Hospital and she devoted her life to caring for people. She was very good at her job but like all nurses was probably not always really appreciated.”
Mr Chambers was speaking at the Manor Gardens Centre, where he is working with teenagers in a campaign against gun and knife crime.
He agreed with one questioner, Vanessa, 32, from Hackney, who said that social workers were often expected to be miracle workers. Vanessa, who worked previously in administration, added: “Obviously, social workers have to take some blame in the Baby P case, but you have to look at the whole picture.
“Social workers spend a great deal of time on paperwork and are just not able to do as many visits as they would like.”
Another trainee, Kelly, 22, felt the job was a lot harder than people realised. “Social workers have become scapegoats,” she said. “People think they have more power than they actually have.”
Mr Chambers said it was always extremely sad when a child dies as in the Baby P case. He added: “I’m a father and I couldn’t imagine putting any child through that sort of torture. But it is too easy to blame the social workers. They do put in a lot of good work to turn families around but we never hear of that.
“There are far more people in the country than there are social workers and they can’t be everywhere.
“I’d like to see more social workers and more volunteers working in the community to help with struggling families.”
Mr Chambers is looking for funding to create a north London sports academy, based in Finsbury Park and surrounding boroughs. It would cater for young people aged 18 to 25.
In the summer Mr Chambers, originally from Islington but now living in Enfield, lost a bid to overturn a lifetime Olympic ban imposed after using an illegal steroid.
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